Piggly Wiggly's first store in New England

Click / tap on the photo to see present day view. (T&G Staff / RICK CINCLAIR)

FITCHBURG -- Piggly Wiggly's first store in New England opened on River Street in Fitchburg in 1970. But the chain's experiment in the Northeast didn't last. It is now confined to 17 Midwestern and Southern states, though its headquarters is not too far from Fitchburg, over the border in New Hampshire.

The chain, like many other industries, was locating where business activity was found. Fitchburg was a city that was, in the 1970s, a center of manufacturing. And where there was manufacturing, there were workers with families to shop for.

In 1970, Fitchburg's population was at its height, about 43,000 people. Before that time, its population had been steadily rising. Since, it has fallen, as manufacturing moved south and overseas.

The town struggled financially in the years that followed, but it remains among Worcester County's largest cities, with a state university (Fitchburg State University) a museum (the Fitchburg Art Museum), and a claim to motion picture fame: The 1961 film “Return to Peyton Place” was filmed there.

The city was similar to the markets that Piggly Wiggly was fond of putting stores in across the South, but it wasn't a market with brand identity in the North.

The Alexander Academy barbering and cosmetology school is now situated in the former Piggly Wiggly building, though its previous tenant still lives on in Fitchburg memories. Ask for directions and someone might say to pass the Piggly Wiggly plaza.